AFL - CIO Gearing Up to Go After McCain
The AFL-CIO announced at its executive council meeting in San Diego that
it would continue to remain neutral in the Democratic race between Sens.
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, but would begin training its
political resources on McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee.
Political director Karen Ackerman said the opening salvo will be to link
McCain to President Bush, who endorsed the Arizona senator on Wednesday.
McCain ''voted for every free trade deal that exports jobs, he voted
against S-CHIP, he votes for national right to work bill, he voted against
raising minimum wage,'' she said. ''There is no jobs programs, his health
care program is one that's based on individual health accounts and not in
any way universal health care. So on every single measure on economic
issues that working families care about, McCain really stands with the
Bush administration policies over and over and over again.''
Last year, Congress twice failed to override Bush vetoes of bills to
increase federal spending on S-CHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance
Program.
The AFL-CIO and its 56 unions expect to spend an estimated $200 million on
the 2008 presidential and congressional elections.
''There was a lot of discussion at the executive council meeting among the
presidents on the importance of really reaching out to union families,
union members first and foremost but their families as well, to tell the
real story of who John McCain is and what he stands for,'' Ackerman said.
The AFL-CIO eventually will endorse a Democrat for president, but neither
Clinton nor Obama has enough support for that to happen. A candidate must
have support from two-thirds of the union's 10 million members to win the
labor federation's formal backing.
''I would say that Hillary Clinton has majority support, but at this
moment not 66 and two-thirds,'' said Gerald McEntee, president of the
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and chair of
the AFL-CIO's political committee.
McEntee's union endorsed the New York senator last year. He said he and
other Clinton supporters would continue to press AFL-CIO unions to support
her, but Ackerman said not to expect an endorsement anytime soon.
''We'll see how the Democratic primary plays out over the next month or
so,'' she said.
The AFL-CIO allows its 56 member unions to make individual endorsements,
and 12 are backing Clinton. She also has been endorsed by the United Farm
Workers, one union from the rival Change to Win labor organization.
Obama has been endorsed by Change to Win and four of its unions: the
Service Employees International Union, the Teamsters, UNITE HERE and the
United Food and Commercial Workers, as well as five AFL-CIO unions.
Pennsylvania, on April 22, is the next big battleground in the Democratic
race. The state has the fourth-largest number of union workers in the
nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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